Moonlight Avenger

War-torn Ravages

By the time we made it Koda’s pack, we had lost more precious hours. Hades and Cya were both irritated with me their bonds vibrated with their disappointment. If I had thought that my pack had been a war zone, it was nothing compared to the destruction that was left here. More animals ripped apart and big bloody footprints everywhere.

Mana sighed. “They were very intent on discovering anything about the Moonlight Rogue.” He glanced over at me. “You should know, they tortured some of them until they told where your clan was. Their deaths were anything but peaceful. I’ll let you say your goodbyes, and I’ll get started on the graves.”

I nodded at him. “Cya, Hades, would you help him?”

Cya’s ears dropped. “You don’t want us with you?” My actions had hurt him so much.

I would have to make it up to him later. But severing ties with an old pack wasn’t simple, and this one I had been raised in. “I just wish to get this done as quickly as possible. With you two working with Mana the graves will be dug fast and we can give these people their final rest.”

“I’m not burying any that betrayed you.” Hades tilted his head as he stared at me. “I refuse because those are the ones that caused our people to die. They deserve nothing from me, and if graves are dug for them I’ll stop.”

Mana shouldered the other wolf out of the way. “Then don’t bother helping, I didn’t have to tell you what happened here. I did it out of respect to your alpha.” He bowed his head to me. “Forgive the rudeness, I’ll get back to work right away.”

Hades padded over to me and sat beside me as he watched. I sighed and comforted myself with envisioning myself smacking him upside the head. Alphas could be far too stubborn for their own good. I know this whole thing was because of me, but I had accepted this deal, why couldn’t he? “Hades, if you’re not going to help, then please, get out of my way.”

Hades bumped his head against mine as he refused to move. “Morgan, I know you’re angry at me, I can feel it. But, I just can’t do this. I’m sorry.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Besides, you have Cya.” He growled low in his throat. “And yet Cya is helping but the great Alpha Koda can’t even manage that on his own?”

Koda bowed his head. “Touche, you’re right. I should stop standing here admiring your Alpha and get to work.”

Hades snarled at the other wolf as he passed by then once more stared into my eyes. “Morgan, you’re smart. I know you’re smart. Careful that old feelings and old sentiments don’t cloud your judgment. But no matter what, I’ll be at your side, always.”

I rubbed my cheek against his and huffed. “I have some goodbyes to attend to. If you insist on not helping, please just stay out of our way.” I left him behind as I stalked off deeper into the pack’s insides. My steps slowed as I progressed. The shredded animals were gone but there was a new horror now. Bodies, there were bodies strewn everywhere. Torn apart, gnawed on, the expressions of pain and fear etched onto their faces forever.

Would this be what happened to my pack? Had I doomed them to slow tortures and death? I paused as I recognized one of the killed and bowed my head. One of those that had raised me. Dead now. Her pretty brown eyes I had been so jealous of, clouded over with death. These people deserved better than this. They deserved to be alive. I don’t know how big this enemy pack was but I knew that I would exact my revenge on them. For every death we suffered, they would suffer four times as much. Those demon cats had no idea what kind of hell they had stirred up by making me feel like this.

“Are you okay?” Cya joined me his emerald eyes surveying the destruction. “I’m sorry for your loss, Morgan. I’m sure that if this happened to our pack, I mean mother’s pack.” His ears twitched. “Do you think she’s safe? Will they go after her? Should we check first? Or maybe bring them with us?”

I shook my head at his questions. “I don’t want to bring more death to this land. Maya would most likely insist on going, and she and her pack have already been through enough.”

Cya tilted his head. “And if they’re already headed there?”

I swallowed. I tried to imagine this scene playing out with Maya and her pack and I shuddered. “It would add more hours to our journey if we were to check on them. I am okay with it, but I worry that we are being followed. I don’t wish to lead them to your mother.”

Cya jerked upright. “Wait, you think we’re being followed?” he lowered his voice to a hiss.

I nodded. “I smell them. It’s faint but there is another demon cat around. It’s no doubt waiting to ambush us tonight. And when they do, we’ll plan our own torture session. If you can wait that long, we’ll be able to find out if your former pack is safe or not.” I nuzzled yet another dead former pack member. Why had they been so cruel? They had ripped his eyes out, ate them from his skull from the look of it, feasted on his soft parts. Monsters, demons, and soon to die.

“Let me get back to digging the graves,” Cya whispered. “I didn’t realize how awful this was.” A wave of nausea flooded the bond. Despite being tortured in the past he was still my soft sensitive one.

“Cya?” I whispered as I pulled away from the ravaged corpse.

“Yes, Alpha?” he questioned his eyes locked on the ground.

“I’m not speaking to you as an alpha right now,” I rebuked with a shake of my head. “I am talking as your mate.”

“Yes, Morgan?” he whispered. He still couldn’t meet my eyes.

“I love you, Cya. You and Hades both. I love you and I don’t want to lose either of you. If you can’t deal with this, if you need to go to Maya’s pack and protect her, I’ll understand.”

Cya looked up his brows wrinkled. “No, Morgan. I mean, I love you too. But no, I won’t leave your side. Mom isn’t exactly weak. She survived her mate dying, that’s not easy, remember?” he meant it as a joke, but it came out as a choked whisper.

“I promise we will check on her, Cya. Before we go up north, no matter what it takes. I just don’t want to lead them to her, do you understand?”

Cya took a deep breath and his nose wrinkled as the stench of death wafted through. “Morgan, we don’t have to check on her. Interrogating that cat will be enough. Even if they were sent there, we’d be of no help at this point, and if not I don’t want to drag that pack into this.”

“We’ll move faster if we keep it smaller.” I agreed. “We will make that beast pay, Cya. Now, let me get to work. This could take a lot longer than our own pack. These people suffered a lot.” I studied my mate for a moment as he continued to battle with his fear and the sickness. “This is why I’m doing it you know,” I whispered. I didn’t know if it was to him or to myself.

“What do you mean?” Cya shuddered as he looked around too much. “Why are you doing this?”

“I would say look at them, but I know you can’t. These people suffered, and they suffered for a reason. It is true that they gave up me and the pack. I’m not denying that, but look at what happened to them. Do you really think that they did it so easily? Wouldn’t they have had far easier deaths if that was the case?”

A long sigh caught my attention from behind me and I turned to see Hades there with his head hanging low. “Morgan, I’m sorry. If you want me to help, I’ll do it. You’re right. The fact that not everyone is torn apart like this tells me all I need to know about this situation. So many died keeping your secret, trying to keep you safe. I just wanted to apologize to you. I still don’t trust Koda, I think he’s leading us into a trap of some sort. But I will help bury these wolves. They deserve a peaceful death as well.”

“You don’t have to worry about digging the graves anymore.” Mana had joined us again. The hulking brute of a wolf leaned down over each of the fallen, one at a time as he whispered his prayers. “We’ve finished digging them all. Now it just getting them into them.” He paused. “Thank you, for what you said, Hades. We might have gotten off on the wrong paw, but I appreciate you admitting that my people deserve peace as well.”

“How many was it, Mana?” I questioned. I should have known better. I didn’t really want to hear the answer.

“Hundreds,” Koda whispered as he slinked into view. He walked like he was drugged and collapsed in the middle of the courtyard. “Morgan, I want revenge on them, all of them. I want to use the fire from those hellcats and set the wolves on fire, and then set the other half of the wolves onto the hellcats. I don’t know what we’re going to find at the end of our journey. I came to you asking for help, but now after seeing what happened when I left, I don’t deserve that help. We could be walking into the jaws of death itself if we continue.”

Mana nodded to his words. “That is true, but the Goddess offers her protection to those that walk the true path. If we go, she will be on our side. The Moon Goddess will be weeping tonight over all of these poor souls.”

“I don’t care if it is the jaws of death, Koda. Even if it kills me, I will take down those responsible for this, and that is a promise.”